Brussels, 29/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a statement on 27 May, the German presidency welcomed the agreement between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich to hold parliamentary elections in Ukraine on 30 September 2007. This agreement, which was reached on Sunday, should end the tensions between the two Ukrainian leaders, which threatened to degenerate following the mobilisation of Interior Ministry forces at the end of last week. Their stand-off had lasted since 2 April, when President Yushchenko dissolved parliament and called early elections. Urging both sides to “now implement this political compromise step by step”, the EU “encourages the leadership to jointly advance the constitutional-reform process up to the agreed date of the elections in harmony with European values, in order to provide their country with a stable, reliable and universally-recognized framework for political discourse”. (ab)